Hope and Courage
by emergency-heart
Summary: "Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment." -Napoleon Bonaparte Rated T for mild sexual references.


**Hey everyone! Long-time no see! In case you didn't know- I used to be therealmisshappy, I usually write stories for my OTPs Jac/Joseph and "Leddi" (or should that be TTPs?). Anyway I'm back for a short period and I thought I'd have a go at writing for a new ship, so here's my first ever Chigby/Charthur" piece (what do we call them?).**

**This will probably be chapter one of about four- assuming I get time to write them. I warn you now guys, I'm going to try my hardest, but expect long delays!**

**Finally, thanks to Mark C, from for Beta-ing for me. And now … Onwards!**

**Hope and Courage**

"_Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.__"__  
_ -**Napoleon Bonaparte**

She is so beautiful that his heart skips a beat. If he didn't know any better he'd say they were fully blown heart palpitations. A monkey without even half of Arthur Digby's brain capacity would be able to make that connection. However, that same monkey would probably also be able to master the intricacies of human mating rituals with, frankly, embarrassing ease. Arthur isn't really all that interested in 'mating', so to speak, but he's almost certain that he's finally found a female companion who he would adore and worship for the rest of his days.

If only the feeling was mutual.

So after yet another day of being utterly bamboozled by certain female colleagues and patients, Arthur returns to his shared house feeling somewhat triumphant. Chantelle Lane is coming to visit his house. He throws down his keys and hurries into the kitchen where he is greeted by his bleary-eyed and shirtless housemate, Patch.

"Alright Sniffles. Where you bin then?" Patch grunts into his cereal.  
"At work," Arthur replies, rolling his eyes at the use of his god-awful nickname, "Speaking of which, why are you still in your boxers at this hour? How come you're not at work?"

"I'm on nights this week." Patch grumbles, "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Arthur raises an inquisitive eyebrow by way of response, "That hot Spanish nurse asked me to do it, you know, the one that was giving me the 'come on' last week. I mean how could I refuse? I tell you Sniffles, I am so in there." He explains, pumping his hips a little too enthusiastically for Arthur's liking.

Arthur says nothing and nods. He has known Patch since medical school and never once has he seen him so much as kiss a girl. In fact, Arthur wonders if Patch has even lost his virginity at all. Nevertheless, Arthur and his other housemate Simon can do nothing but admire their friend's ceaseless and often desperately disastrous sexual optimism.

Still, he is glad that Patch is completing his medical training over at St James' rather than at Holby, for fear that even the slightest association with Patch would send girls like Chantelle running for the hills.

"Oh good, that means I only have to bribe Simon and Polly to leave the house then." Arthur can't help but feel a little smug, at the fact that he is bringing a woman home before the slightly sex-obsessed Patch. It may well be a frustratingly platonic affair in reality, but Patch would never believe it, which means that for once Arthur can enjoy being the tease, rather than the teased. So far his plan is working; Patch has dropped his spoon and is wearing an expression of profound confusion.  
"Why?" Patch asks.  
"No reason," Arthur just grins to himself and waits for the penny to drop. It doesn't take long.  
"Arthur Digby, you sly old fox! You're bringing a girl home aren't you?" Patch cries, jumping off his stool and giving a slightly surprised Arthur a hearty high five. "At last! Digby's finally getting some!"

Unfortunately, Arthur's satisfaction is very short lived. By this point, his inner prude gets the better of him and he flushes a deep shade of fuchsia. Suddenly, he realises the predicament he's landed himself in; his friends will now assume that Chantelle is his girlfriend, which will lead to awkward questions. However, the depressing lack of romance between himself and his favourite nurse is the very last thing he wants to admit to anyone.

As Patch continues to revel in Arthur's embarrassment, Simon and his girlfriend Polly can be heard crashing about in the hall. "What're you shouting about Patch?" he calls from the other room.  
"Arthur's getting laid tonight!" Patch declares, clearly enjoying himself.  
"No! N-no, nooo I'm not!" Arthur splutters. "W-we're just friends! That's all. We're just watching films together!"  
Simon briefly pokes his head around the door: "That's what they all say. Get in there Digs." He adds unhelpfully.  
"Shall we go to my place tonight then Si?" Polly giggles as she wanders into the kitchen to join Arthur and Patch. "We ought to give Sniffles and his lady-friend some privacy."  
"Just be careful you don't bore her to death with lectures about Napoleon. Or scare her away with your Mine-craft figures." Patch sniggers.  
"For the last time!" Arthur yelps, "I haven't had Mine-craft figures since I was about 12. Oh, and she's not my girlfriend. So we're definitely not sleeping together." He sighs involuntarily before he can stop himself.

Sensing he has had enough, Polly turns to Patch and glances pointedly at her watch:  
"Don't you have patients to try not to kill?" She asks, laughing as Patch looks at the clock in horror and flees from the room, though not before shouting something about 'copping a feel', before he is out of earshot. Once he is gone, Polly pulls out two seats from the breakfast bar, sits down and gestures for Arthur to join her. "Sit down Sniffs. What's the deal? Spill." She orders.  
Arthur sighs once more; he's known Polly for longer than any of the others and she can read him like a book. He knows there will be no escaping her questions until he admits everything, so he might as well cut to the chase now.  
"It's nothing Polly, really. It's just my female friend is coming over because she wants to force me to watch some film that she reckons will help me to understand women." He rolls his eyes and tries hard to look blasé.  
"Not a date then?"  
"Ah, no apparently not," Arthur mutters, dropping his gaze as he realises that Polly has cottoned on to his predicament.  
"…And you would rather it was a date then?" She prompts.  
Arthur shrugs in exasperation, "Yes. No. I don't know… Why else would I agree to watch 'Mean Girls'? It sounds dire. Anyway it's not that simple, one minute she says she's into this guy called Rhys, then she's kissing me and the next she's acting like it never happened. I just don't know what to do. So can we just drop it please?"  
"You know what Sniffs, Patch might actually be right for once. If she's worth it, she'll come around. Tonight could be the night you know." Polly says comfortingly. "And if she's not, you'll get over her. You always do."  
"I should bloody hope so." Arthur grunts.

He remembers the day he first met Polly. They had been placed in the same halls, back in the early days of medical school. Until that moment, he'd never really been that bothered by girls, but from that point forward he was utterly captivated. She was his sun and he found himself captured by her gravitational pull. At one point he'd even feigned complete and total ignorance of the respiratory system, just as an excuse to spend more time with her. It worked and they spent their extra revision lessons filling in and analysing diagrams, but he was never brave enough to take things any further.  
It was only when he made the mistake of introducing her to Simon that he realised that he risked losing her. His competition was tall, lean, muscular, head over heels in love and, more importantly, his best friend. There was no way he could compete, so he reluctantly let her go and prayed his feelings would eventually fade into the obscurity of the universe.

That was when he promised himself never to let himself feel like that again.

The thing is, since Chantelle appeared in his life, it would seem he has gone back on his promise, and now all he really wants is to take care of her the way the 'wonderful' Rhys didn't. Her unfailing kindness and beautiful smile have left him star-struck in ways Polly didn't even manage. She's the princess who dances through all his waking thoughts, and often finds herself inexplicably haunting his dreams, but why on earth would a girl as beautiful as her ever be interested in him?

**So yeah, how was it? Let me know what you think!**

**Kat xx**


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